Etisah Beach with “Petit Mount Cameroon” in the background. The real Mt Cameroon is hidden somewhere in the ever-present clouds behind it.

We spent last weekend in the town of Limbe, about an hour and a half north of Douala on the part of Cameroon’s road network that looks like the N2 (with a couple more potholes). Limbe is Cameroon’s major beach resort but because its the middle of the rainy season the town has very few tourists, although this is the best season for waves.

Limbe is notable for several reasons:

apparently it has the third highest rainfall in the world (after some place in Japan and one in Hawaii);

it also has black sand beaches – largely because of the presence of the nearby active volcano, Mount Cameroon (which last erupted in 1999)

and it has one of the few quality rights in Central/West Africa: “Mile 6″ – a long point break

Etisah Beach: Black

We spent a few days on the beach with Pierre and Stephane, two French expats who spend most weekends in Limbe.

It was the Cameroonian municipal elections on Sunday so driving was prohibited meaning we had to stay on the beach all day – not too much of a problem!

Pierre grew up in the Ivory Coast, is a part-owner of 7Shores – an Ivorian surf brand, and an excellent surfer:

Stephane is a kite-surfer who works for Exxon Mobil. He straps a camera to his wing and gets some incredible shots from the air:

The waves were OK, but we’re holding out for the swell kicking in this Friday. No doubt Giles, our dedicated Surf Reporter will be tracking the coming waves on the Surf Report page.

In the meantime we’re heading off to Kiribi, south of Douala, which is meant to have some great beaches but no waves. We’ll update when we get back from there…

Africa + Surfing = AfricanSurfer

The original trip

March 2007: Tim, Lurks & Stone mission north from Cape Town up the west coast of Africa, in search of good waves and good times.
Their vehicle: a trusty 1981 Landcruiser named Mzee Kobe (The Old Tortoise).
Their final destination: London... finally arriving almost a year behind schedule in latter 2008!